The Queen
The Queen, also known as Vader Eloha, is a mysterious entity known to be the wife of The Batter as well as the surrogate mother of (and creation of) Hugo. Like her husband and unlike Hugo, she appears essentially human although she is not. Her body appears to manifest itself in the same way as the Batter's; she is the only other direct creation of Hugo as well as the only other being able to control Add-Ons in the same way as the Batter. The Queen is in charge of The Guardians as a group, who in turn control the three Zones. Her exact purpose in doing so is obscure. She is never observed to directly interact with any Guardians during the course of the game beforehand, although her existence is directly referred to. In Chapter 1 of the events that take place within The Room, the Batter approaches the Queen, fighting her and eventually killing her after a brief dialogue. The Queen is the protector of Hugo in that she sees herself as serving as his mother, though still being his creation. As the Batter challenges her, she exclaims "I won't let you lay a finger on the son that has brought us into this world!" Appearance and personality The Queen is one of the most outwardly non-threatening, humanoid-looking entities in the game. However, like the Batter and unlike Hugo, she is confirmed as not truly being human. She possesses a flowing white gown reminiscent of that worn during weddings and other formal type services. She also has long hair that appears to be related to tentacle-like ends that seem to be coming out of her body. However, these ends may actually come from her elegant attire. Her face is either non-existent or heavily obscured, giving an appearance on her head similar to that of a mannequin. In personality terms, she exists as somewhat of a feminine counterpart to the Batter. They both share a deep sense of purpose and moral conviction from their actions as well as a willingness to debate such things, at least for a short time. It is unclear to what extent The Queen understands the depths of despair and tremendous problems that the various Zones had descended to by the time the Batter begins his fights. Whether or not she holds to a naive viewpoint of everything as going well versus believing that even a suffering existence is preferable to oblivion, or holding some other way of thinking, is unknown. Though she and the Batter clearly used to be a couple, with him even referred to by her as "my love", the responsibility for the ending of this relationship is also unknown. Boss battle The Queen is the second hardest boss fight in the game; defeating her is more difficult than the true final boss battle but easier than facing Sugar. Like the Batter, she has three Add-Ons (though hers look significantly more ornate and beautiful than his) that will attack in unison with her. It is unknown if other characters in the game are inherently unable to use Add-Ons or if they are just otherwise hampered in some way (such as being unable to locate them). Unlike Sugar's entities, called "candies", the Queen's Add-Ons are tough enough to withstand multiple hits. However, the Batter's Add-On named Epsilon is able to eliminate them in a relatively short time through its multiple attack ability. The Queen herself attacks the Batter by berating him, his quest, and his treatment of Hugo. Despite avoiding physically encountering The Batter, these deal a fair lot of damage, possibly inflicting status effects. Her attack quotes include: * "He loves you not." * "Have you filled your life with beauty?" * "No dessert for you." * "You’ve been wrong since the beginning." * "You don’t even know his first name." * "I am gravely disappointed." * "There is nothing but the void after me." * "You are mistaken." The extent to which her comments are either almost entirely true, partly true, or almost entirely false depends on character interpretations, given the ambiguous nature of the game. It is possible that she is correct that The Batter is an immoral agent of destruction and that he failed as a father-like figure in terms of Hugo, with her words causing direct harm by piercing the sense that the Batter has of himself as a well-intentioned extremist "purifying" things. It is also possible that the Batter is emotionally failing to keep his generally stoic resolve due to his remaining affection for both her and Hugo, hence why the words hurt so much, yet the Queen is still ultimately self-serving and wrong because the Batter's actions are mercy killings, meant to end suffering that must be stopped. The whole matter is deliberately left open. Trivia *In the English version of the game, part of her dialogue has been mistranslated as "I won't let you lay a finger on the son '''that we have brought' into the world!" (emphasis added), making for a different ending. The line is, in fact, ''"I won't let you lay a finger on the son '''that brought us' into the world''" (emphasis added). *The term "Eloha", in keeping with the religious themes in other names in the game (such as the Add-On names "Alpha" and "Omega"), is one of the traditional Jewish and Christian titles for God.http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Names_of_G-d/Eloha/eloha.html *Dying, the Queen mentions a party that was supposed to be "tonight" and that she had made cake. She also asks the Batter how he would like his coffee. The significance of these lines are not clear. It is possible that she is merely hallucinating about past good times in her relationship with the Batter, but the lines may be deliberately said in order to cause even more guilt in both the Batter and the Player for their actions. *The title card for her "chapter" of the room displays what appears to be an emperor moth (or possibly a Polyphemus moth).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnia_pavonia The use of an "emperor" moth motif works as a reference to her nature, with her serving as leader of all of the various Guardians in all of the zones. * The Queen is the only character aside from the Batter to have Add-Ons, emphasizing her nature as the Batter's wife and counterpart. * The Queen's quote "There is nothing but the void after me." can be seen as foreshadowing. Once the Batter defeats her, the Zone is purified. Everything vanishes in the area aside from the room in which Hugo resides in. The fact that the Queen's statement is correct points to her other words against the Batter also likely being at least somewhat true. * The extent to which The Queen knows about the existence of The Player is unknown. However, some of the statements made by her seem to challenge the Player directly. The line "You don’t even know his first name." in particular appears to be directed specifically at the Player since the exact name of the child (Hugo) is not given in the game-play at any point before The Queen is encountered. The line may also have a double-meaning in that the Player does not appear to know or care about the real name of the Batter either. * The direct reference to both The Queen and The Batter as created beings made by Hugo may point to the entire game existing only inside of Hugo's immediate environment or even his own mind. Thus, the conflict between the two characters may exist as parts of Hugo's own being fighting it out, the defeat of the Queen and other entities symbolizing the child's willingness to accept its own death given its illness. Alternatively, Hugo may be picturing the struggle as to whether or not he should have life support cut by someone else in the real world, putting all of that in metaphorical terms. However, like other character interpretations the exact answer is unknown. * It is possible that both The Batter and The Queen were deliberately designed in the context of the game as stand-ins for the long dead parents of Hugo. This would explain why those two characters appear essentially normal and visually non-threatening in contrast to many other entities encountered in the game, such as the other Guardians. This would also explain why those two dress in ways strongly associated with real-world job occupations and hobbies (the Batter as a baseball player and the Queen perhaps as an elegant actress, model, singer, and/or socialite). Queen, The Queen, The Queen, The Category:Battle Sprites